Alaskan Mountain Pursuit Elizabeth Goddard (best short novels .TXT) 📖

His lids grew heavy and closed again. That was much better. Sleep. He could sleep forever and be okay with that.

But wait...there was something or someone. Some reason he needed to wake up. Except his body wouldn’t respond to his commands, and his mind was trapped in the past.

He was only fourteen and learning to fly, taking the controls of the plane for the first time. His dad beamed with pride, and when he landed, he didn’t think he could ever have a better day. He’d come home to chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. Mom and Dad were working to build up Mountain Cove Air bush piloting services. He could stay here forever with them, and soaked in the rare warm day in Alaska. He didn’t want to grow older. No, he didn’t want to see the future. He knew what he would face, and the pain was too much, as it rushed in and over him anyway. His father’s death, and then his mother’s.

But then there was someone else...someone vitally important to him. And he couldn’t save her, either. She was going to die because Will had let her down, too.

A flash of light golden brown hair. Athletic body, and strong mind and spirit.

She can’t die. No, Will has to die for her, to save her.

And then he could fly with the eagles, riding the winds of heaven.

He jerked; his eyes opened. Pain sliced through his head. Sylvie stood there, looking at him. That was painful, too. Seeing her standing there in his dream. He shut his eyes, shut out the light and the pain and Sylvie. He’d let her down. He couldn’t look at her, face her, even though it was a dream.

“Will,” she whispered.

He cringed inside, wanted to run away, but he couldn’t move. She took his hand in hers and squeezed. And Will, to his surprise, squeezed back.

“Can you hear me?” Again, she whispered, hurt and fear twisting her voice. “I have to tell you something. I can’t keep it inside anymore. I know it’s crazy. I haven’t known you for long, but I’m in love with you.”

Will wanted out of this dream. He had to wake up to get away from Sylvie. It was as if she voiced all his fears of loving someone, all he’d run from. She was taking his fear and offering him the one thing he’d ever wanted—someone to love. But he could never admit it, never let it happen. Why was she torturing him?

And then she sniffled. “They told me you couldn’t hear me, but I don’t believe that’s true. I think you can hear me and that’s why I’m begging you to please wake up. I love you. I need you. Come back to me.”

Sylvie’s voice was so sweet, so comforting, Will decided he didn’t want the dream to end, after all, but then he realized...this isn’t a dream. He fought to open his eyes. Hearing her gasp, feeling her breath against his arm, motivated him to try harder. Will turned his face toward the warmth emanating from her body.

This isn’t a dream! Wake up! Don’t lose her again!

When had she become everything to him? Will’s eyes opened and he stared into the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen. Her smile nearly did him in again. He tried to return it, but wasn’t sure his lips so much as cracked the hint of a grin.

“You’re awake,” she said through tears, and squeezed his hand with both of hers. “Will, you’re awake.”

“Yes.” His voice sounded ancient to his own ears.

“Did you hear me? I mean, could you hear me talking?”

“Yes.” Her words had brought him back, he was sure of it. They had saved him. “I heard.”

Fear flickered in her gaze. “And?”

Finally, he felt his grin, and he saw it reflected in her response. Wow, he loved her smile. Her strength. Her beauty both inside and out. Her spirit.

“Oh, Will, I’m sorry. I’ve hit you with all this when you’ve just woken up.” She turned from him, pulled her hands away and called the nurse. “He’s awake!”

“Sylvie, wait.” He reached for her, but there was no strength in his arms.

She rushed back to him as others came into the room.

“You didn’t let me finish. It’s your words that brought me back, and they weren’t too much. They were just right. I love you, too.”

But Sylvie wasn’t allowed to respond as the nurse asked him questions, welcomed him back and took his vitals. Just where had he gone that everyone appeared surprised he was back with them? It wasn’t as if he’d been dead. The doctor would explain the details, the nurse said, then left him alone with Sylvie.

Images of his dreams crawled over him, leaving the fear and memories in their wake. The loss, his personal loss, had been too much. Nausea roiled.

“What’s the matter?” Sylvie asked.

But Sylvie was here in the flesh. Alive, not dead, as he’d believed. He would move forward. Be grateful for her. But...

“What if love isn’t enough? We’re too different. I love to fly. And you’re not happy if you’re not in the water.”

The horror of what had happened came rolling back and rammed him. The pain in his leg, fighting the diver, and then he hadn’t been able to breathe. The anguish and pain of it and everything went black.

“I don’t care about any of that. I just care that you’re alive.”

“I must be a weak man. I don’t think I can ever go diving again. Can you still accept me, love me?” He didn’t doubt it, but he had to ask. He had to put it all on the table.

“Isn’t that what love is all about? Giving up, sacrificing, for the one you love?”

He nodded, waiting to hear what more she would say.

“I can give it up for you, Will. I don’t need to dive. You sacrificed everything for me. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

He saw the truth in her eyes. “Well, there’s at least one thing we have